Do Work You Give a Shit About

Too many people seem to be working in jobs they hate, simply to earn money to buy stuff they don’t need. They are dissatisfied and disengaged at work, which drains their energy and results in poorer relationships and life fulfilment.

I have argued for chasing job satisfaction for as long as I can remember. And more often than not it has been an argument, and these are the usual rebuttals:

Not everyone can do what they love

Who would do the hard or sucky work like cleaning toilets

Some of us have responsibilities

I believe that people who respond like this truly believe what they are saying. Perhaps it’s what their parents always said and now it’s how they too justify why they do work they don’t give a shit about, or at best, only give a marginal shit about.

The reasons, however reasonable they sound, do not stop that tight feeling in your chest every Monday morning before work.

You instinctively know that things can’t go on this way. That you aren't satisfied living your life solely as a wage slave, a consumer, or a ‘good responsible citizen’ if that’s what you choose to call it.

While the lights can be blinding, and the shiny objects numbing, your true feelings of fear and dissatisfaction still manage to claw their way into your head whether it’s late at night or in the early hours of the morning.

It’s time to change. Acknowledge these feelings for what they are — a sign that you need to start doing work you give a shit about. This may not mean quitting your job tomorrow, or maybe it does. Perhaps the thing you give a shit about can be done after work and on weekends, and your job can fund it. This could then bring meaning to your job as the vehicle that allows you to do something you truly care about.

Listen to your gut and never stop looking for work that that you give a shit about.